Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Date of latest update: 2023-11-11

Description

Description (EN):

Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea can only be stopped by greatly reducing the phosphorus and nitrogen load entering the sea. The objective of the NutriTrade project is to enable nutrient reductions in the Baltic Sea area with fast, effective and economically efficient measures so that the targets set by HELCOM (Baltic Sea Action Plan, 2007) can be achieved. The project is of high policy relevance for the Baltic Sea region and has been nominated as a flagship project of the EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy. NutriTrade develops new innovative policy instruments promoting cost-effective, cross-border, cross-sector nutrient reduction measures in the Baltic Sea basin. The project will pilot a platform for voluntary nutrient trading, nutrient offsets and joint implementation of nutrient reduction targets in Baltic Sea area. The NutriTrade platform will connect effective nutrient abatement measures with voluntary financiers willing to acquire nutrient offsets and neutralize their nutrient footprint In the pilot scheme, several proven nutrient abatement measures including e.g. mussel farming, gypsum treatment of fields, and fishing of cyprinids will be implemented, resulting in phosphorus load reductions of up to 50 t/a. At the same time, the project will develop 1) credible nutrient offset verification mechanisms, and 2) assessment mechanisms to find and support innovative but proven and verifiable nutrient reduction methods which have not yet become market-driven or integrated into governmental policies. The platform will first function with phosphorus offsets, but can later be expanded also to nitrogen. The lessons learned in the pilot scheme will be used for analyzing nutrient trading as a water policy instrument on a national level, and also for the analysis of a Baltic Sea wide inter-governmental nutrient trading. Based on these, NutriTrade will produce policy recommendations for the Baltic Sea region.

Achievements (EN):

NutriTrade - Reduced nutrient load through cost-effective measures: NutriTrade reduced nutrient load to the Baltic Sea through cost-effective pilot measures. These included pilot projects, creating a crowdfunding platform for nutrient offset and policy analysis. Pilot projects: The Pilots developed new concepts for nutrient reduction and provided new information on the feasibility of the methods and on their cost-efficiency as a nutrient removal measure. In total, the pilots contributed to the removal of 6 t of phosphorus from the Baltic Sea in 2015-18 and will continue to cut phosphorus loading in the future. Pilot Gypsum reduced phosphorus runoff by 50% (1.3-2.3 t in the first 1,5 years). Pilot Fish resulted in phosphorus removal of 4,2 t by 2018 and will continue to remove phosphorus in the future, too. Pilot Mussel removed 65 kg phosphorus. Pilot measures are being put into practice in other geographical areas and institutionalised: Finnish authorities are planning the introduction of gypsum amendment of fields into the public support schemes. Up to 3500 hectares will be treated by gypsum in 2018-20 in river Vantaa and Porvoo catchment areas. Gypsum treatment will be tested e.g. in Poland. The Nutribute crowdfunding platform: A functioning nutrient offset platform for the Baltic Sea available at nutribute.org enables the meeting of project owners and voluntary donors. A transparent framework for measuring cost efficiency (€/kg) of nutrient reduction efforts and identifying new innovative reduction methods. A mechanism that enables companies, municipalities, associations, private citizens etc. to neutralize their nutrient footprint. A sustainable financing mechanism for innovations/measures which reduce nutrients from the Baltic Sea but have not yet become commercially viable or included in institutional financing frameworks. The policy briefs published by Pilot Gypsum recommend large-scale use of gypsum amendment in Finland and consider it also elsewhere in the Baltic Sea region. The Policy Briefs have been utilized by HELCOM as well as the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and the Finnish Ministry of the Agriculture and Forestry in planning a support scheme for the measure.

Website: http://centralbaltic.eu/

Expected Results (EN): R2.4. The amounts of nutrients, hazardous substances and toxins inflows into the Baltic Sea

Expected Outputs (EN):

The main results of NutriTrade will be:1. A functioning nutrient offset platform for the Baltic Sea. The experiences gathered from the voluntary scheme will be utilized for developing regulation based and inter-governmental trading.2. A transparent framework for measuring cost efficiency (€/kg) of nutrient reduction efforts and identifying new innovative reduction methods. The framework can have a multitude of application areas within the Baltic Sea revival context.3. A mechanism enabling companies, municipalities, associations, private citizens etc. to neutralize their nutrient footprint. Through NutriTrade citizens can channel their concern over the Baltic Sea into concrete and transparent nutrient reduction initiatives which improve their own living environment. 4. Concrete and masurable removal of phosphorus from the Baltic Sea of at least 50t/a through concrete measures listed under “Pilots”. After the full scale roll-out, annual trading volumes of several hundred tons annually are targeted.5. A sustainable financing mechanism for innovations/measures which reduce nutrients from the Baltic Sea but have not yet become commercially viable or included in institutional financing frameworks (such as agri-environmental support). This will also increase private financing for water protection measures traditionally financed by the public sector.6. Policy analysis and a roadmap on the future use of nutrient trading in water protection policy.The project links to the result indicator by:1) implementing and supporting pilot measures, which reduce up to 50 t/a of phosphorus already during the project.2) establishing a mechanism (platform) for identifying, financing, implementing and verifying effective nutrient reduction measures in the future.3) analyzing opportunities and challenges, and providing policy recommendations, for using joint implementation/nutrient trading in national and intergovernmental Baltic Sea protection efforts.

Thematic information

Institutional cooperation and cooperation networks Waterways, lakes and rivers

Specific Objective: Reduced nutrients, hazardous substances and toxins inflows into the Baltic Sea

Thematic Objective: (06) preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency by:

Investment Priority: (06f) promoting innovative technologies to improve environmental protection and resource efficiency in the waste sector, water sector and with regard to soil, or to reduce air pollution

Partners (5)

Lead Partner: John Nurmisen Säätiö sr

Department: Clean Baltic Sea

Address: Pasilankatu 2, 240 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi

Total budget: EUR 678 726.00

ERDF budget: EUR 509 044.50

Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet

Name: Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet

Department: Department of Economics

Address: Arrheniusplan 4, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.slu.se/en/departments/economics

Total budget: EUR 639 378.40

ERDF budget: EUR 479 533.80

Anthesis Enveco AB

Name: Anthesis Enveco AB

Address: Måsholmstorget 3, 12748 Stockholm, Sweden

Legal status: private

Website: https://www.anthesisgroup.com/se/

Total budget: EUR 100 000.00

ERDF budget: EUR 75 000.00

Helsingin yliopisto

Name: Helsingin yliopisto

Department: Department of Economics and Management

Address: Yliopistonkatu 4, 14 Helsingin Yliopisto, Finland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.helsinki.fi/taloustiede

Total budget: EUR 400 000.00

ERDF budget: EUR 300 000.00

Luonnonvarakeskus

Name: Luonnonvarakeskus

Department: Economics and society

Address: Viikinkaari 4, 790 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.luke.fi

Total budget: EUR 250 000.00

ERDF budget: EUR 187 500.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Partners and Projects info

Anthesis Enveco AB

Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Partners and Projects info

University of Helsinki

Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Partners and Projects info

Natural Resources Institute Finland

Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Partners and Projects info

John Nurminen Foundation

Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Project acronym: NutriTrade

Project start date: 2015-09-01

Project end date: 2019-02-28

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 2 068 104.40

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 551 078.30

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 551 078.30.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Reports

Summary of experiences from the gypsum pilot project

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2017-02-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

NutriTrade Policy Brief 2 Gypsum Amendment and Policy

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-05-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

NutriTrade Policy Brief 1, Gypsum Amendment and Large Scale Use

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-05-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Pilot mussel final report

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-02-28

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Pilot fish final report – challenges, opportunities, suitability for nutrient trading

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-02-28

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

NutriTrade Policy Brief 3 Nutrient Offsets

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://database.centralbaltic.eu/results

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-05-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-11-11

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

137 / 137 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

663 / 663 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://centralbaltic.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-11-08, 2023-01-12 and 2024-03-08.

The financial data featured in keep.eu for this programme, it's projects and its partners is not exact and should be taken as a reference only.

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Piloting a Nutrient Trading Scheme in the Central Baltic

Description

Thematic information

Partners (5)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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